Class
Article
College
College of Agriculture and Applied Sciences
Department
School of Applied Sciences, Technology and Education
Faculty Mentor
Tyson Sorensen
Presentation Type
Oral Presentation
Abstract
The national shortage of agricultural education teachers is an urgent concern because it results in less students prepared to seek careers in agriculture and other STEM disciplines. Factors including the excessive demands placed on agriculture teachers have contributed to teacher turnover. These demands often spill over into other life domains, such as the family. Since individuals in the family domain can exert an influence on career decisions of their loved ones, it is important to understand the influence of the agricultural education profession on perceptions and work-family conflict of the agriculture teacher's spouse or partner (henceforth spouse). Additionally, job satisfaction has been found to be a strong indicator of a teacher's intent to remain in the profession, however little research has examined the influence of the spouse's attitudes or personal factors related to job satisfaction. This study sought to describe the attitudes of the agriculture teachers' spouse regarding agricultural education as a career, specifically to examine factors associated with the spouse's satisfaction with agricultural education. An online survey consisting of two sections: 1) spouses' demographic information; and 2) spouses' attitudes towards agricultural education (e.g., agriculture teachers' work-family conflict (WFC), satisfaction with career, family supportive work-culture) was distributed to a national sample of 699 agriculture teachers' spouses. Spouses indicated relatively high satisfaction with agricultural education and moderate levels of WFC and family-supportive work culture. Significant predictors of spouses' satisfaction with agricultural education include total family household work hours, WFC, and family supportive work culture. Gender and whether the spouse had participated in SBAE were not significant. Implications exist to reduce WFC and to continue to promote a positive family supportive work culture within the agricultural education profession.
Location
Room 154
Start Date
4-10-2019 10:30 AM
End Date
4-10-2019 11:45 AM
Included in
The Spouse's Perspective of Agricultural Education as a Career
Room 154
The national shortage of agricultural education teachers is an urgent concern because it results in less students prepared to seek careers in agriculture and other STEM disciplines. Factors including the excessive demands placed on agriculture teachers have contributed to teacher turnover. These demands often spill over into other life domains, such as the family. Since individuals in the family domain can exert an influence on career decisions of their loved ones, it is important to understand the influence of the agricultural education profession on perceptions and work-family conflict of the agriculture teacher's spouse or partner (henceforth spouse). Additionally, job satisfaction has been found to be a strong indicator of a teacher's intent to remain in the profession, however little research has examined the influence of the spouse's attitudes or personal factors related to job satisfaction. This study sought to describe the attitudes of the agriculture teachers' spouse regarding agricultural education as a career, specifically to examine factors associated with the spouse's satisfaction with agricultural education. An online survey consisting of two sections: 1) spouses' demographic information; and 2) spouses' attitudes towards agricultural education (e.g., agriculture teachers' work-family conflict (WFC), satisfaction with career, family supportive work-culture) was distributed to a national sample of 699 agriculture teachers' spouses. Spouses indicated relatively high satisfaction with agricultural education and moderate levels of WFC and family-supportive work culture. Significant predictors of spouses' satisfaction with agricultural education include total family household work hours, WFC, and family supportive work culture. Gender and whether the spouse had participated in SBAE were not significant. Implications exist to reduce WFC and to continue to promote a positive family supportive work culture within the agricultural education profession.